Chill guys. Anyways... I started to tackle this problem, but didn't get any (much needed) comments on whether I was on the right track. Here's some sample preliminary usage of what I was working on. Please let me know if you think it's worth continuing, and what you'd ideally like to see in a formatter.
https://github.com/tbreloff/Formatting.jl/blob/tom-fmt/test/fmt.jl On Tue, Sep 22, 2015 at 10:05 AM, Daniel Carrera <dcarr...@gmail.com> wrote: > Coding sprintf() is beyond my skill, I tried. My contributions to Julia > have to lie elsewhere (recently I've been putting a lot of time making > mockups of a Julia IDE, and helping a new user port his Matlab code). I > think it is rude to say "if you don't like it, fix it yourself"; especially > after you wrote a post claiming that the non-implementation of sprintf() > was an intentional omission because developers weren't sure how to do it > right. I showed, correctly, that that argument is nonsense; so you spinned > around and changed it to "if you don't like it, fix it yourself". That > answer is only a way to reject valid complaints, and it feels like a thinly > veiled "fuck you". Imagine if that's how people responded in bug reports. > This is not the type of answer that Julia developers normally give, and it > is not the type of answer that I expect in Julia; especially after giving a > very different answer to the same question. I do try to contribute to > Julia, and it is rude and unreasonable to hold me personally responsible > for fixing everything that does not work in Julia. A healthy community > needs room for receiving legitimate complaints. > > Daniel. > > On 22 September 2015 at 15:49, Tomas Lycken <tomas.lyc...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >> > If C can have one, why can't Julia? >> >> *The hard truth, and nothing but it:* If Julia is missing a feature, or >> has one that works in a way that's not the way you want, it's because >> no-one has wanted what you want enough to actually implement it. >> >> That's it. There's no "it can't be done" - Julia is Turing complete, so >> "everything" can be done. There's no "it's not allowed" - no-one is >> stopping you from writing your own package, with your own implementation >> that does what you want the way you want it done, putting it in the package >> repository and seeing it take off. Chances are that if you write something >> that it turns out many others want as well, it will be included in the >> default package distribution in the future (or even in base Julia). Or it >> might not take off, but at least be there for your own enjoyment. >> >> But the entire language, with all tooling, packages, etc - everything >> that is Julia - is very much a community-built product. Everything that is >> there, is there because someone at some point said *hey, this is so >> important to me that I'm going to put it at the very top of my priority >> list*. Creating a sprintf function that fulfills your needs might not >> have made it there for anyone yet. If it's that important to you, maybe >> that's your next contribution? >> >> // T >> >> On Tuesday, September 22, 2015 at 3:17:55 PM UTC+2, Daniel Carrera wrote: >>> >>> I might be wrong, but to me Formatting.jl looks next to useless. The >>> "sprintf" functions it provides only accept one parameter. The main >>> function provided is `sprintf1()`, but even the very clumsy >>> `generate_formatter()` function fails at the most basic tasks: >>> >>> julia> fmtrfunc = generate_formatter( "%10.3f %6d %3d" ) >>> ERROR: Only one AND undecorated format string is allowed >>> in generate_formatter at >>> /home/daniel/.julia/v0.3/Formatting/src/cformat.jl:23 >>> >>> >>> I really don't understand why sprintf() is such a big deal. If C can >>> have one, why can't Julia? I understand the argument that you might want to >>> rewrite the implementation later. Fine. Just call the function >>> "__temp_sprintf()" and put it in a package called >>> "FunctionThatWillGoAwayLater". I don't care. I just want to be able to >>> print formatted strings without a ton of needless hassle. >>> >>> >>> >>> On Tuesday, 22 September 2015 10:03:52 UTC+2, Tomas Lycken wrote: >>>> >>>> By the way, you might also note that the Formatting.jl package is >>>> written and maintained by people who are all active contributors to the >>>> main language repo, and very active members of the community. Even if it's >>>> "external" in terms of how you install it, it's by no means external "in >>>> spirit". >>>> >>>> // T >>>> >>>> On Tuesday, September 22, 2015 at 10:01:24 AM UTC+2, Tomas Lycken wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Julia is a young language. >>>>> >>>>> This comes with a lot of benefits - for example, it's possible to do >>>>> things *right* from the start. We're currently in a phase where there is a >>>>> multitude of possible solutions to every problem that arises, and we >>>>> honestly don't know which solution proves to be the best one. Testing >>>>> various solutions out in packages, outside of the base distribution, where >>>>> they can compete for popularity, and keep building on top of each-other >>>>> until we reach something which we believe not only is adequate, but >>>>> *really* hits the sweet spot. In other words: sure, formatting numeric >>>>> output is fundamental, but it's a problem with a large solution space, and >>>>> we don't want to lock in on one path yet. >>>>> >>>>> But Julia's young age also means that there are lots of problems that >>>>> aren't really solved yet, or that have solutions proposed but not >>>>> implemented, etc. For the future, there are plans to include some packages >>>>> (which ones have not been decided, or AFAIK really even discussed) in a >>>>> sort-of "base distribution", so they will be installed upon installation >>>>> of >>>>> Julia, and available with a single `using` statement. But the >>>>> infrastructure for this is not in place yet, and even if it were, there >>>>> would still be lots of reasons not to make a final decision on which >>>>> packages make the cut until we approach a 1.0 release of the language. >>>>> >>>>> So yeah, it might seem silly to have to install a package just to get >>>>> fine-grained control of numeric output formatting, but, at least for now, >>>>> that's part of what one could call Julia's "Package Deal" ;) >>>>> >>>>> // T >>>>> >>>>> On Tuesday, September 22, 2015 at 9:43:05 AM UTC+2, Ferran Mazzanti >>>>> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> Thanks, that seems to work. >>>>>> Still it amazes me how Julia, being a language made for numerical >>>>>> calculations, does not natively support a simple mechanism to print/write >>>>>> large bunches of numbers. I've been in the numerical world for 20+ >>>>>> years and I know printing lots of numbers is something you get on a daily >>>>>> basis. I know now the formatting package can help on that (thanks :), >>>>>> what I do not like is the idea of having to install every time a new >>>>>> package >>>>>> to get added functionality. I understand there are things that have >>>>>> to go to external packages because of its limited or specialized use, but >>>>>> come on... printing number os definitely not one of those. >>>>>> Just my 2cents :) >>>>>> >>>>>> On Monday, September 21, 2015 at 10:52:52 AM UTC+2, Michael Hatherly >>>>>> wrote: >>>>>>> >>>>>>> https://github.com/JuliaLang/Formatting.jl might help. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> — Mike >>>>>>> >>>>>>> On Monday, 21 September 2015 10:46:31 UTC+2, Ferran Mazzanti wrote: >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Dear all, >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> I could use some help here, because I can't believe I'm not able to >>>>>>>> easily print formatted numbers under Julia in a easy way. What I try >>>>>>>> to do >>>>>>>> is to write a function that, given a vector, prints all its components >>>>>>>> with >>>>>>>> a user-defined format. I was trying something of the form >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> function Print_Vec(aux_VEC,form_VEC) >>>>>>>> form_VEC :: ASCIIString >>>>>>>> str_VEC = "%16.8f" >>>>>>>> for elem_VEC in aux_VEC >>>>>>>> str_VEC += @sprintf(form_VEC,elem_VEC) >>>>>>>> end >>>>>>>> return str_VEC >>>>>>>> end >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> However, that doesn't work because it looks like the first argument >>>>>>>> in @sprintf must be a explicit string, and not a variable. >>>>>>>> Is there anything I can do with that? >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Thanks a lot for your help. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >
